J.S.Y

Alone by her desk, window adjacent, a woman sits with her head on her hands clasped together.

"Dear Lord, please help my son. Please take his cancer away. Please get my husband out of his horrible depression. Oh, please Lord."

It had been a year since Caroline's seven year old son had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor which was not responding to treatment very well. Her husband had been taking it quite hard. On top of that he also had clinical depression for years. Now it was worse than ever. Also, Caroline's grandmother, whom had raised her for several years of her life, passed away a month prior. Even though the pain of losing her grandmother weighed heavy on her soul along with her problems at home, her grandmother had willed her a hefty amount of her fortune which helped ease the burden of her son's medical bills and make a financial cushion while her husband was unable to work. Along with her grandmother's fortune, Caroline was also willed several boxes of her grandmother's books. Two of the boxes were wooden and definitely not packed recently. A few days later, Caroline decided to look through the boxes after getting back home early from the office. She started with the cardboard boxes. Many of them were science fiction and fantasy books. A few boxes were art books featuring Gustav Klimt and Salvador Dali. A few of the boxes were not all books. One contained vinyl records of mostly orchestral and classical. And one box was full of drawings and stories Caroline had made when she was little. When Caroline looked at the pictures, it stirred up a torrent of emotions that made her collapse in tears. She huddled in the ground and fell asleep. When she woke up it was already dusk. She saw the two wooden boxes, but something told her not to open them at this time. She went to see her son in the clinic who was being watched over by her husband's brother while she was getting affairs in order. When she arrived her son was asleep. 

"I tried playing checkers with him earlier, but he was having a really hard time. But you know we did some coloring and he seemed to like that." 

"I'm sorry I wanted to get here earlier, but I passed out after looking through my grandma's books." said Caroline groggily.

"No no, it's alright. It was great watching him. I can't even imagine what you're experiencing right now. Especially, with Gage's slump." said Gage's Brother.

"It has been tough, but I got willed a large sum of money from my grandma. It's helping pay for James's medical bills and other things." said Caroline.

"She sounds like a wonderful woman. I'm sorry." 

"Thanks. She really was. My cousins are at each other's throats right now with what will be willed amongst them." said Caroline.

"Jesus."

Caroline sat beside her son James and put her hand on his chest. He lied there, bloated and with gauze wrapped around his head.

"James, sweetheart, I'm here. Can you hear me? I wanted to tell you, I love you and that Daddy loves you too. I heard you drew with your Uncle Theo today. We are going to have to go soon, but we'll be back here if you need us. Your grandma Renay is going to be looking over you for the night. I'll be back in the morning. Bye sweetie."

James lay there mostly unresponsive. Caroline let out a sigh of sadness. A moment later Caroline's mother-in-law Renaye, walked through the door of hospital room.

"Caroline! Baby girl, how are you holding?"  asked Renaye.

"It's been tough. Especially… well…" 

"I know, Gage's depression has gotten much worse over the years. I'm sorry he hasn't been much help right now."

"Renaye, you and Theo have helped me so much right now and I'm really grateful for you two." said Caroline.

"Oh, it's no trouble. Hopefully, by the grace of God. James will make it through this." said Renay.

"I've been praying everyday." said Caroline.

When Caroline got home, she went back to the boxes and remembered the wooden crates. They were nailed shut, and she needed something to pry it open. She found a claw hammer and pried open the top of the crate. The nails on the crate appeared very old and not regular steel nails you could purchase at a store. They were hand forged iron nails. Inside the crate were leather bound books. Caroline picked up a few and thumbed through them. One appeared to be nothing but occult-like symbols. Another one had names studied and classified spirits. Caroline realized these crates contained several grimoires and possibly other occult items. She opened the other crate and found more books, but also boxes containing rare ingredients for a certain type of spellwork. Underneath it all was her grandmother's book of shadows. In it was each spell she ever used and footnotes which mentioned her research and inspirations. It also mentioned another book called the Mergun Verkim. The spells attached to the Mergun were not like the other spells in the book. They required the book itself as some type of wand or as an altar cloth and on top of that, the spells seemed very simple compared to the other ones. Caroline's looked through the boxes again for the Mergun, but didn't seem to find it, until she noticed one of the books was a false book that was actually a lock box. She looked through the artifacts to see if she could find a key. One of the artifacts was another leather bound book with a bluish metallic sheen that was somewhat hard to explain. The cover had a flat black jewel of some sort on it set in a silver type material. Caroline opened the book and immediately passed out. 

The next morning she woke up off the floor, in a very uncomfortable position. It hurt to move for several minutes. She got dressed for work and saw the book was open to a section that mentioned healing a person's mind. Reading the book made her feel dizzy and nauseated, but the spell itself was simple. It required the spellcaster to take some tissue or hair from the afflicted person and put it in the third page of the book. It then said to close it and spin the book 40 times on its jewel. Then to take the hair and feed to the afflicted person. She took one of Gage's hairs she found from the bathroom and replicated the spell. She wondered how she would feed it to him and decided to put it in a muffin. It was small enough to be hidden very easily. She walked over to him with the muffin and some coffee. He was sitting at his computer trying to type out an email to his father. 

"Here, I thought you might want this." said Caroline.

"Oh, thanks sweetie." said Gage while clutching Caroline's arm.

"So, how are you today?"

"Well, a bit better than yesterday. I just don't umm. I, I, I, I can't really think right now."

"Well, I have to go to the office now, I'll see you later." 

"See ya."

Once she started to head out the door she noticed her husband starting to eat the muffin. She got in her car and drove down to her office. While she was at a traffic light, a tingling sensation started to form in her head, it turned into a gripping pain throughout her body she noticed the blood vessels in her arms starting to darken and pulse. Her breathing became laboured and then it was over. As soon as the pain appeared it disappeared. Everything resumed as normal. While she was typing at her desk she tried remembering why she was unsurprised at the fact that her grandmother had been an avid magic practitioner. And why she didn't think much of the episode she experienced in the car. Why could she not recall her grandmother mentioning anything like this. She knew her  grandmother was rather superstitious. The more she thought about everything, the more she wanted to look in that book. When she arrived home that evening, her husband had left a note at his desk saying he had gone to visit James in the hospital. This note had distracted her from the Book for now. She called the hospital room to check and see if he was still there.

"Hello?" 

On the line was the voice of Renay.

"Renay!" exclaimed Caroline.

"Caroline! Gage came over today, did you know that?" asked Renay.

"Yeah, he left a note. I'm actually shocked." Caroline replied.

"Me too. I didn't think… Oh, okay here you go…" Renay was interrupted as Gage took the phone.

"Hey Honey, I was just visiting James. We did a bit of watercolors, haha." said Gage.

"That's so great. I'm really surprised you're out right now. I almost can't believe it."

"So am I. I'm feeling pretty good today. I was going to head out in a second. I was going to swing by the Thai place and bring back some takeout. Sound good?"

"Oh yeah it does. Shrimp green curry."

"Of course.

After dinner Caroline went back to the book looking for more spells. She tried finding an ailment curing spell, but there were several. She consulted her grandmother's book of shadows to see what would be the best one to use. Then she realized much of her grandmother's writing was in Spanish in the earliest section. Caroline took the Mergun and her grandmother's book of shadows to see if there were any similarities between any of the books spells. One spell called the Wishing Well in the Mergun matched a spell in her grandmother's book. It can cure ailments among other things. It required a coin, a glass of water and a piece of the afflicted person's hair or blood. Caroline went into James's bedroom and looked for hairs that may have shed and found one on his pillowcase. She took it back to her desk and cut it up a bit and mixed it into the water as per the instructions. She then took the Mergun and layed it with the jewel facing upwards. She placed the coin on the jewel and rotated it so the head of the book faced magnetic South. After a few seconds the jewel began to change into an intangible hole that didn't seem to lead anywhere, taking the coin down into an abyss of nothingness. The next step was to state who needed to be cured and pour in the water and hair mixture.

"Cure my son James of cancer and make him well again." said Caroline, speaking at the book. 

Then she poured the water in and made sure every bit of hair went in. Like the coin the water fell down into nothing. About an hour after the spell was cast and Caroline was taking a shower, a tingling sensation like earlier was back behind her eyes then the pain spread again throughout her body, this time more intense. Caroline collapsed in the tub. Gage hearing the commotion rushed to the bathroom and found Caroline in the tub clutching her head.

"Caroline!" he yelled.

 He ran to her side and lifted her up out of the tub and onto the bed. 

"Caroline, do you know what happened?" he asked while handing her a towel.

Caroline took the towel and covered herself up with it.

"I had a bad headache and I lost all balance. I think I might have hit my head on the soap thing when I fell." she said.

"I think I see a bruise starting to form on the side of your head. I think I should take to the hospital." he said.

"You might be right." she said

Later that night at the hospital, the doctor was doing tests to see if Caroline had gotten a bad concussion. 

"Everything looks alright. I don't think you sustained a concussion, but you said a bad headache caused you to lose balance?" inquired the doctor. 

"Yeah, it was a sudden pain behind my eyes." said Caroline.

"Does you have a history of migraines?" asked the doctor.

"No, but they do run in my family." 

"I see. Do you think you might have migraines?" 

"I might. Do you think it could be a brain tumor?" said Caroline. In Caroline's head she knew the book was causing the pains, but she acted as if something else might be wrong so she wouldn't appear dismissive of these episodes. 

"In my professional opinion, I do not believe it is a brain tumor. Though we could schedule you for an x-ray at our radiology department." said the doctor.

"I think I'll take your word for it doctor." she said.

"I do think you should probably get checked for migraines though." said the doctor

"Well, I think you're good to go then." said the doctor.

"Thanks doctor." said Caroline.

As they were checking out of the hospital Gage said, "Did you want to go up and see James?

"Yes, I do!" said Caroline.

"Here I got the wristbands." he said. 

James' condition was noticeably better, much less swollen, but he was asleep. Caroline took hold of James' hand and he began to wake up. He smiled and tried mouthing a few words, but they were a bit garbled. 

"James!" said Caroline excitedly.

"Hey James buddy, how are you? You wanna show your mom the watercolors?" said Gage.

James smiled and they helped him sit up as they looked through the watercolors and drawings. 

Over the next few weeks James's Condition became better and the doctors declared that James was cancer free. Over the next months James's motor skills came back much quicker than anticipated. And after only about six months James was once again running throughout the house and playing outside, like any healthy child would. The months during James's recovery Caroline had quit her job and had been using the wishing well more and more to procure more wealth and keep her family healthy. She only used the book at specific times to not cause alarm. She placed a cot in her study to lie down in while she waited for the pains to come and pass, but the more she used the book the less intense the pains got. It became like a breeze of cool air running through her that made her shiver and get goosebumps. It was pleasant and holding the book no longer made her feel nauseated or dizzy it almost felt euphoric. Even though the financial status of their family was excellent and the health of James and Gage were stellar, Gage could not help but notice that Caroline was growing more distant and cold. He suggested they spend more time together, but Caroline never wanted to. Gage feared that something was terribly wrong with her. This started to escalate into arguments.

"Why is it that almost a year ago, when all the worst things possible were happening to us,  you seemed happier? Huh?!" yelled Gage. 

"I'm am not unhappy Gage, it is YOU that is being completely unbearable. Now would you please leave my study." Caroline said.

"How am I unbearable, do you enjoy others being more miserable than you now or something? What happened to you? What even is that?" said Gage gesturing at the Mergun Verkim.

"It's one of my grandmother's books. I have not changed. Now, leave my study dammit." she said.

Gage was confused and upset by Caroline's dismissiveness.

"No! I want to talk about thi…"

"GET THE FUCK OUT DAMMIT, OR I'LL BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF YOU." Caroline screamed.

Gage was a physically stronger person, and even though Caroline was only 5.5 and relatively small, he knew she was rather strong for her size and fought dirty.

"I'll be at my mom's. I'm taking James with me." he said.

After, she heard them pull out of the driveway she decided to consult someone about what was happening to her.  She took out her grandmother's copy of the Lesser Key of Solomon and decided to summon a demon that can give truthful answers.

Once the spell was complete and the circle was cast, she waited for the demon to come. The lights flickered and the house shook as if a small earthquake was happening. A fine grey mist formed inside the circle. It materialized into a horse-like shape and then into a roughly 6.5 Caucasian man with longish red hair and amber coloured eyes. 

"Orobas?" asked Caroline.

"Ah, no. The real one is trapped in a vase full of water. I'm one of his legionaries." replied the demon. 

"I was hoping for the real one." she said.

"Well even if he wasn't trapped, you would probably still get someone else. The heavy hitters usually get called into high-level situations. If you know what I mean. Which looks like this is starting to become one." The demon said as it noticed the Mergun Verkim. 

"You know about that book?" she asked.

"I have heard of it, but I thought it was destroyed as it should have been. You see it's not a creation of Lucifer, like you might think. Not is it the creation of God nor man. It's not from this universe nor any universe. It's from the Abyss a place that horrible monsters and confusing godly beings exist. That book is a monster where it comes from. It only takes the form of a book in this universe." said the demon.

"Tell me something I don't know." said Caroline.

"Well, that book is an affront to everything that exists, you should give it to me before you do anymore damage to yourself. You see every time you use that book it uses a bit of your soul to cast the spell and replaces it with a black flux-like substance. Maybe while you still have even a bit of your soul, you should hand me that book so I can get rid of it." said the demon. 

"What if you just use it for yourself?" Caroline inquired.

"Oh, I might. But I can't you see the book has to like whoever it is in possession of, because it's a sentient god, but any demon that's opened the book gets blasted or the spells are impossible to complete. Also, we don't really have a soul to use, so it wouldn't really work anyway."

"But these spells are so simple, how would you have never tried any of them?" she asked.

"The spells appear simple to the people it likes and can vary depending on the person. A spell that is cast one way for you might be different to someone else. Like flicking a paperclip through a pool rack or something similar. And if you're wondering why your spell is the same as your grandma's, it's because you saw it in her book of shadows first and expected it to be the same. Those spells are mostly for show. If the book likes you enough you can just ask it to do what you want." said the demon.

Caroline just stared at the demon. 

"You know you didn't really cast this circle very well. The warding is about to wear off and once it does, I'm going to take that book and bring you down for a family reunion with Granny." the demon said. "Oh, look." said the demon as it walked out of the circle.

It moved towards Caroline slowly. Caroline's expression was of pure terror and once the demon was right in front of her, she paused as it stood right in front of her. She turned her head to look around at her house before her impending doom, was this it for her? She looked back at the demon and smirked. She raised her arm and smacked the demon across the room. It flew into a bookcase and fell on the ground with a thump. It grabbed the side of its face where it had been hit. It pulled it hand away as a corrosive substance was eating away at its face and hand.

"Haaah! AAAAAHHHHHH!" the demon screamed while looking at its hand and realizing Caroline was bluffing the whole time. 

Caroline raised the book and spoke. 

"I didn't summon you here to ask for your advice. You are going to be tribute for the book to complete my last spell."

"I bet you can't even comprehend what the book is asking you to do!" said the demon.

"Eat it." 

The jewel on the book once again turned into a portal to the abyss and began to create a whirlwind around it pulling the demon closer. The demon tried to fight the whirlwind, and grabbed onto the doorframe. Then black root-like structures came out of the book and grabbed onto the demon. The demon reverted to it's true form of an infernal horse headed serpent and yelled as it ripped part of the door frame off and tried digging its claws into the floorboards. The demon was pulled right through the portal grasping its hand out as it let out one last echoing scream. 

The spell was now complete Caroline, felt the last bit of her soul burn off as the black ooze took its place. Something was different now. Caroline was not going to live much longer. In her current state she was forsaken by the grace of God or any other deity. Black flux filled her eyes and it ran down her face. More black ooze came out of her mouth and it was coursing through her blood vessels. She picked up the phone and called Gage. 

"Gage, I need you to come home. There isn't much time leave James there." she said.

"Caroline! What's happening?!!" yelled Gage.

"Please Gage, please come home." she said as she dropped the receiver. 

She stumbled around the house for about fifteen minutes all the while leaving black ooze everywhere. When Gage finally got home he noticed all the ooze and looked for Caroline.

"Caroline where are you?!!" he yelled.

He finally found her in James's bedroom. He noticed black ooze dripping from her hands.

"Caroline?"

She turned around black tears coming out of her eyes and black liquid in her mouth. The veins in her neck were highlighted black. 

"Gage" she said happily but in a somber tone.

"Oh my God…" 

"Gage" she repeated as she moved towards him. 

"Caroline!"

Ø

Submitted October 22, 2019 at 03:11PM by CeadDooner https://ift.tt/2JcmgUO